Cravings

by William L. K

  With her teeth sinking deeper into the cavity of his warm chest, her lips covered in the stain of fresh blood, she passed out and remembered no more.

  When she awoke, he explained who he was and what had happened. He vowed that if she remained faithful to him, he would return one day granting her the prize of everlasting life and love.

  The memory of that experience would always cause Elise to smile. However, now, in this moment, there was no happiness. Was it possible that the years apart turned the whole episode into a fantasy that was never real at all? Did she concoct a make-believe love story in her head? It was too depressing to think about. She was too angry, consumed by a growing hatred toward Liam for what he had done. In her mind, which was now flooded with the reason of a long dormant human brain, he had unjustly betrayed her.

  Jarred back to reality, she heard his voice.

  “It is finished,” Liam said. “You are one with me no more.”

  Stunned by his presence, Elise spun around and saw him sitting right behind her in the corner of the badly wrecked limousine.

  “I thought I loved you,” Elise said. “I believed every word you said to me.”

  “You feel deceived and mislead. I understand.”

  “No you don’t,” she said, tears in her eyes.

  “If I didn’t love you, I would gladly give you eternity. You think that is what you want, but what you seek is only an illusion, a myth. I will not corrupt you again.”

  “So you would have me die?”

  “There are fates far worse than death,” Liam said, staring out the window, “Death is but a cavern you will pass right through. When you emerge on the other side you will finally see the truth. It is something I have only heard of and something I cannot explain. You must see it for yourself. I love you enough to let you leave me. All I can offer you in the end is sorrow.”

  Elise cried openly. “I was once a child full of hope until you took it all from me… How did it come to this?” she wept.

  Silence.

  Stillness.

  There was no more to say.

  “We are ready now,” Liam said to Victor. “Take us to our final destination. Drive quickly; I fear there is not much time.”

  Martin had fallen into a drug-induced slumber, his arms and legs now bound with thick rope. His captor tied him up and carried him to a sitting room where he was thrown on a worn-out lime green couch. The walls surrounding the small space were absorbed by rows and rows of shelves. Books by the hundreds were stacked neatly next to antiquated knick-knacks, sloppily placed collectibles and a few pictures of saints.

  After an hour or so, some sensation returned to Martin and he began to feel the rope digging into his ankles. He was weary and maddened, his thoughts still transfixed on the glass of wine. How could he have been so stupid?

  “What’s… your… real name?” Martin managed to ask.

  “My name is Olsen, I didn’t lie. Sorry to say though, I’m not a priest.”

  Martin opened his eyes, the room before him was blurry but he could see. Olsen was sitting comfortably next to him in a folding chair. He was chugging down a longneck. “Ah, that’s good. I love the imported brands. You drink beer?”

  “On occasion,” Martin mumbled.

  “I love the shit,” Olsen said, reading the name on the label. “Cerveza Impotada, product of Mexico. What in the hell is a house full of American priests doing with imported Mexican beer? Isn’t a nice cold Bud good enough anymore? Shit, even priests are getting all fancy schmancy these days.”

  “What did you to do to them?”

  “The priests? Oh… well, let’s just say they didn’t fare as well as you.”

  “You disgust me!”

  “That’s kind of you to say. Try not to be so rude to Liam though. I’m not so sure he would take that as a compliment.”

  “Who’s Liam?”

  “My mentor. He should be arriving any minute. He knows you quite well, even though you’ve never met.”

  Martin had a million questions but didn’t know where to begin.

  “You seem puzzled,” Olsen said. “Allow me to fill in the blanks. You were right, Elise was indeed a vampire. See, you’re not that crazy after all. However, she will not be one for very long. In fact, you need to be well-prepared for the night ahead of you. Elise will age dramatically overnight. Her body will not be able to withstand the sudden onslaught of old age… she will perish before sunrise. I have to warn you. It may be an extremely grotesque sight. The favor Liam wants from you is rather simple.” Olsen took another sip of beer and leaned in closer, the aroma of hops and alcohol thick on his breath. “Give Elise the reward of dying in the arms of a man who loves her. Liam is not like the rest of us, he has a soft spot for you mortals. Excuse the pun, but he’s a vampire with a heart. He would be very upset if she were to die alone. According to Liam, there is no greater sorrow than dying alone. He wishes for you to be with her when she leaves this world.”

  “And… then what?”

  “Then go back to your life. Do this service and you will be free of any obligation to Liam.”

  Martin felt a rush of adrenaline, his eyesight suddenly less blurry. Resentment coursed through him as he spoke. “Why should I owe this man anything?”

  “Well, first of all, he is not a man. Second, you will owe him for the rest of your life. He allowed you to take companionship with one of his own, a woman he deeply loves. You are rather fortunate. Be grateful he hasn’t killed you many times over. Trust me, I’ve seen what he can do… it ain’t pretty.”

  “Perhaps it is you that should be afraid. A man with nothing to lose fears little.”

  Olsen smiled, “Hence the fact that you are still tied up.”

  “Release him!” shouted Liam, standing just beyond the entrance to the room, Elise and Victor next to him.

  “My Master,” Olsen said, almost dropping his beer as he popped to his feet.

  “Untie him this instant,” Liam ordered. “This man has done nothing wrong. I will not see him bound like an animal.”

  Olsen quickly undid the knots and freed him. Eager to sit up straight, Martin moved too fast and the room spun, dizziness and nausea ran through him.

  “Take it slow, my friend,” Liam said, sitting down in Olsen’s folding chair. “Elise, the time has come for you to go to your mortal love.”

  Victor escorted her to the couch, motioning for her to sit down next to Martin. Elise found it difficult to walk, her legs cramping up with every step. She had lost maybe twenty pounds in the last hour, her face wrinkled and aging with every passing second. She was ashamed, unable to look Martin in the eyes when she said, “I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.”

  “There is no reason to apologize,” Martin said. “I knew this moment would come. It is the price that must be paid for blind devotion.”

  “My Master,” Olsen said. “There was some trouble last night when I arrived here.”

  “Casualties?” Liam asked.

  “It could not be avoided. Three priests.”

  “Where are the bodies?”

  “In the tub. I was wondering… If we have time, and with your permission of course… May I feed?”

  Liam sighed, “Fine… take Victor with you, he must be hungry also.”

  Unable to suppress their joy, Victor and Olsen marched off toward the bathroom like two kids in a candy store.

  As soon as Elise heard the bathroom door slam, she looked at Liam, “You are nothing but a hypocrite.”

  “I’ve been called worse.”

  “You claim to have conquered the lust for human blood, and yet, the very servants under your charge are devouring the flesh of man as we speak.”

  “I cannot alter the destiny of every vampire. I can only be responsible for my own actions.”

  “It is clear that the action you have chosen is to do nothing. The bodies of three men are being desecrated under your watch. You have the power to stop it and you won’t. That makes you no better than them… In
fact, you are the most sinister of all, masking yourself in the disguise of self-righteousness and erroneous pride.”

  “I will forgive your comments,” Liam said with calm measured words. “It is not for you to judge me, no mortal has that privilege.” His eyes turned to Martin, “Do you love this woman?”

  “Of course I do,” Martin said.

  “Then stay with her until the sun rises.”

  Martin looked at Elise, her newly wrinkled face rapidly descending into old-age. “It will be my honor to stay with her,” Martin said. “Elise will be my love until the end of time.”

  “So be it,” Liam said.

  Standing up, he shouted, “Olsen! Victor! We must take our leave.”

  They emerged from the bathroom, a fresh coat of wet blood falling from their lips, dripping from their chins. Victor and Olsen stood at attention behind their mentor, arrogant warriors of the night.

  The room fell to darkness, cold air rushed in, the scent of death all around them. Liam looked down at Elise one last time. “I will always love you.”

  Suddenly, a blinding white light filled the room, Liam chanted at the top of his lungs as a swirling wind encircled him, “DIABOLUS INCARNATE! DIABOLUS INCARNATE!” Latin words which meant: DEVIL IN THE FLESH!

  Suddenly, a dozen angels of the dark prince appeared out of nowhere. Thrashing about, they whipped their tails in a frenzied chaos, their skeletal faces and aberrant red eyes tormented by the shame of a billion years. Spinning around the room, flashing broken wings and disfigured cadavers, they encased Liam and his servants in a ball of fire and smoke.

  Then, they were gone.

  “I have done a great injustice to you,” Elise said, her voice thick and raspy. “I deserve to die alone. Do not feel obligated to stay with me. Liam will never know if you choose to leave.”

  “I will stay with you,” Martin said. “Not because Liam has directed me to do so. I will stay because I want to, because I care for you. I had always dreamed of growing old with you. And you have aged exactly as I thought you would, growing lovelier with every passing moment. You have always been, and are still, the most beautiful woman in the world to me.”

  “I do not wish to die this way. My body will decompose before your eyes. If you wish to preserve me any dignity, you will kill me now.”

  Martin saw the desperation in her eyes. “Wait here,” he said.

  He left the room and went to the kitchen. Still sitting on the table was his briefcase. Returning to the couch, he held it on his lap. Opening it, he took out a large prescription bottle filled with pills.

  “I will not kill you, but these are sleeping pills,” Martin said. “I have been saving them for me. There are more than enough here for the both of us. If we finish the bottle, this will all be over. When we awake, we will have left this world behind.”

  Martin poured a handful of pills into his hand. Elise opened her palm and accepted them. Taking a deep breath, she placed the first pill next to her lips.

  “Go ahead,” Martin said. “I will join you when you are fast asleep.”

  A single tear formed and trickled down her cheek.

  Then, with all the courage left in her, she threw the pills to the floor. “I cannot do it. I won’t.”

  Martin remained silent.

  “Not even Liam knows what the morning will bring,” Elise said. “If I am to die, I will go when my life has run out. Whether it be an hour or a day, I want you to hold me for whatever time we have been given.”

  Martin smiled, “I do love you so.”

  “I know you do,” Elise said. “And I love you…”

  He wrapped his arms around her, comforting her body in the warmth of his embrace. Elise beamed with a fresh radiance, finally feeling the peace of contentment she had searched a lifetime for. After a century of waiting for the wrong man, her craving had been satisfied. The eternal love she always wanted was there all along.

  They held each other through the night, the thought of sunrise not far from their minds.

  == THE END ==

  The Eye of the Storm

  Sample Chapter

  Chapter 1

  The Morning

  Dmitri sat back in his well-cushioned green recliner and peered through the large northwest window. He was alone, sitting just off the main parlor on the first floor of the Imperial Citadel.

  It was early morning and the sun of the north was beginning to rise. A light drizzle fell gently across the window pane. The rains had greatly diminished from the storm of the night before.

  Dmitri sat in his light brown royal uniform, watching the rain subside and the sun grow. He could not help but admire its purity, its simplicity, an innocence he once treasured.

  This place—ah this place; home to so many. The Imperial Citadel sat atop the largest mountaintop on Stritonoly. The people called it Mount Crito. Fat black cement columns, monstrous in density and depth, stood side by side and spread out all around the outskirts. The citadel itself was enormous, reaching up some twelve stories. Spires thrust defiantly towards the sky, while graceful arches and curves swept outwards, blending into the forests and rock of the mountain beneath.

  The octagonal orange bricks used in the design of the citadel were shipped from factories very near the outermost edges of the galaxy—places no mortal man would ever go. Slave workers from a nearby moon were sent to retrieve these bricks almost five hundred years ago. The slave workers, commonly known as the acidel, were capable of withstanding the rigors of space flight at speeds no human could ever endure.

  Acidel slaves were flexible creatures with beige wrinkled skin, much like a rubber band. The acidel were also very, very small. In fact, so small that a normal sized human could easily walk over them without even knowing. And that did happen from time to time. Dmitri had stepped over, and sometimes stepped on them a few times himself.

  Acidel babies were born no bigger than the tip of a human finger. By the time they were teenagers most had achieved their full stature The tallest of the acidel would grow no higher than the waistline of an adult human, the large majority only reached up to about knee level. And although they did not have great height, their weight was a different story. A typical acidel weighed in excess of a hundred pounds. For a creature so small, they were, well... they were fat!

  The most curious thing about the acidel was that their faces were identical. They all had the same large bald heads, sullen, droopy cheeks and wide circular eyes. They also dressed in the same white robes, black belts and brown sandals. There were times when it was virtually impossible to tell them apart.

  As Dmitri pushed away the long red hair from his forehead, he sat up straight and reached for a piece of white cloth he had in his pants pocket. He brushed his hair into a tight knot behind his head and wrapped it with the cloth making a neat ponytail. Seeing his reflection in the window, he took note of the white cloth wrapped around such straight cherry red hair. He thought it made for a look of remarkable nobility. He wished his features were more mature. He still had the look of a child, a look he despised.

  His blue eyes began to burn as he forced himself not to blink at the emerging light from the sunrise. This magnificent sunrise reminded Dmitri of his youth. He was born on this planet nineteen years ago, and was born into nobility. He had achieved great knowledge and learned everything there was to know about this planet; a world of extreme wealth and fortune. It was not a large planet but there were many small towns and outlying communities that stretched out in sparse patches across the many mountains and valleys.

  Stritonoly was called the purple mountain planet and it was home to many creatures of the universe. The population of the entire planet never grew much larger than two-hundred thousand—half of that number being of human descent.

  From space, an observer could clearly see high mountains and vast areas of purple land covering Stritonoly. There were very few water basins. But they did have one of the largest rivers in this sector of the galaxy. The River Frehenly flowed through
several towns on the southern side of the planet. The citadel sat on the northern side so it was necessary for laborers to deliver water from the river to the citadel several times a week. The river itself spanned some forty miles as it swept past the citadel above. It was the main sightseeing attraction of the planet for visitors and residents alike.

  Stritonoly’s massive wealth came exclusively from the beautiful purple rocky surface that covered almost all the planet. This rocky surface was called purock. The majority of the population of Stritonoly were employed by the citadel as artists and designers. The purock, once it was detached from the ground, became a sight of extreme splendor. The purock was then sculpted by trained artists into works of stunning beauty. The practice of sculpting purock into artistic designs began nearly four hundred years ago. The artworks quickly became popular and were sought after by every significant empire in the galaxy. The rocky artwork was sold to planets all over the universe for incredibly large sums of currency. As the demand increased, so did the price. There seemed to be an unquenchable lust for owning the finest purock art Stritonoly could produce.

  All human children on Stritonoly, who were not of nobility, were schooled in only two subjects: religious doctrine and art. They were provided the very best instruction in mixed media, layering and texture painting, beginning through advanced pastel interpretation, sculpting, etching, realist painting in oils and acrylic, dyeing, watercolor and of course the specific art of using these techniques on the purock itself.

  The best part about the purock was that as soon as it was cut away from the surface, it would grow back just as fast. So there was always an endless supply of the material from which Stritonoly drew its finances.

  Dmitri stood slowly, never taking his eye from the sun. He raised an arm and snapped his fingers.

  Three acidel scampered into the room. Two immediately went for Dmitri’s shoelaces and tied them quickly. The third acidel was Barok, leader of the slave workers.

  The acidel maintained a very busy schedule as it was their job to cut away the purple rocky surface daily and prepare it for artists to render the material into a work worthy of selling at an enormous profit. This profit was due in large part to the fact that the acidel were slaves bound to this planet. They received no payment for their work assignments, only a home, residency in the rear of the citadel was their only reward for their tireless labor. They knew how to do their job well. Failure to do so would result in severe beatings and public humiliation.